West Side Story turned 50 last year, and Leonard Bernstein would have turned 90 next August. Classical music is giving Hallmark a run for its money as an anniversary-driven industry. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, an orchestra near and dear to Bernstein's heart for over 40 years, will play a tribute to him this Saturday, 2/9, at the SF Conservatory of Music (8 p.m., 50 Oak Street), which will include SFCM alumni conductor and Bernstein protegé,......

We made much about Philip Glass turning 70, and not of a single peep when John Adams turned 60 this past February. Aw. We feel bad, since the contemporary composer lives in Berkeley, and he is ours, so to speak. (Gothamist can claim Glass. If they want.) Actually, back then, Adams conducted the SF Symphony in the US premiere of his Flowering Tree to celebrate his big six-oh.Sadly, we were out of town, then. But......

More bad puns on Philip Glass’ name! Appomattox, which we rose our Glass to, was not the end of our wall-to-wall Glass coverage. The Glass is not full, we haven’t hit the Glass ceiling yet, ha. Take tonight. There’s a cool concert at Herbst Theater, presented by Other Minds, an organization devoted to new music: Dennis Russell Davies and his partner, Maki Namekawa, playing music for two pianos from Philip Glass, but also J.S Bach......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 48. Number of people pictured whom we recognize: 2 (Kamala Harris and Willie Brown, at separate events). Minority count: 3 (the two we recognized plus one more, or 6.25%). Getty v. Traina: 0-4. Gavin Newsom count: 0. Ironically, Swells appears to be the only Newsom-free zone in the entire Chronicle. When Dede Wilsey expects her latest project, the UCSF Mission Bay hospital, to be......

Fill in your Wednesday so that every row, column, and 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9! Tonight: Local author ZZ Packer will be reading from her acclaimed short story collection, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, at the SF Main Public Library. 6:30, in the lower level auditorium. After the reading, go hear another set of interconnected tales at the Make-Out Room as the band Deliver Me From Nowhere covers Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, in track order. That show starts at 9. Thursday: Has anyone else seen this Dance Dance Revolution-type game where instead of dancing, you drum? Help us try and remember the name of that game as you attend the SF Conservatory of Music percussion department student recitals! Student Jamie Drake is performing for free at 8 pm in Hellman Hall (19th Street and Ortega). and Friday: It's the Exploratorium's opening night event for its show "Reconsidered Materials," and Elizabeth Hickok will be displaying her awesome San Francisco in Jello (tm), for one night only. Hickok makes a scale model of city scenes, then casts the buildings in gelatin, and then paints and lights it up. (See above.) The gelatin then falls apart. Event starts at 7. Picture of Alamo Square from LizHickok.com...

Back to our usual format, guys. We're still working on a pie chart of the weeklies, though! Last week's this week, The Guardian. Yipes, a cover of people flipping you off! Hello, community standards and decency board? Angry letter from Markos of the Daily Kos. Public power's "close relative," community-choice aggregation. We have no idea what that sentence means. Follow up on Is Badlands Bad (now called And Castro For All). Paul Reidinger goes to Jack Falstaff. Cover article: blurbmania about the SF Int'l Film Fest movies. Mary Timony: she's not all about unicorns anymore! The SF Weekly! Dog Bites tries out for Beach Blanket Babylon again. Cover article: challenges facing the SF Conservatory of Music. This Tuesday, Trannyfest is throwing its annual faux king contest (drag queens dress up like drag kings -- genius!). Blurbmania about the SF Int'l Film Fest movies. Meredith Brody goes to Jack Falstaff. And Mary Timony: not all about unicorns anymore! The East Bay Express, the Metro, and -- hey, does anyone want to go to Jack Falstaff with us?...

SFist admits to once having operatic aspirations, and can still be caught belting an aria out in the shower when we're sure no one else is home. But other than that, outlets for classical song expression are few and far between for those of us too lazy to many great chorales in the area. That's why every year we go to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Sing it Yourself Messiah. Yup, that's right. The......